Nine Worlds Picture

Yggdrassil, the world tree of Norse mythology. It is said to hold up the nine worlds, of which six are universally agreed-upon. The remaining three are a little more difficult, and there are some conflicting sources.The six accepted worlds, their locations in this picture, and their inhabitants are:Asgard (top, home of the Aesir)Vanaheim (top left, home of the Vanir)Alfheim (top right, home of the light elves)Midgarde (center, surrounded by a serpent, home of humans)Jotunheim (third world down the trunk, home of giants)and Niflheim (bottom, home to the dragon Nidhogg and the dead).The three remaining worlds and their inhabitants, as used in this picture are:Nidavellir (first world down the trunk, home to dwarves)Svartalfheim (above the fortress, home to dark elves)and Hel (the fortress above Nidhogg, home to the goddess Hel)

Whether Hel is in Niflheim or a seperate world is not clear. Svartalfheim and Nidavellir may be the same world, and dwarves and dark elves may be the same.

The stags are the source of all rivers. The eagle is the enemy of Nidhogg, who is trying to eat the world tree's roots, which grow from three wells.

Obviously, a little bit of creative license was employed to get around disagreements about what goes where and which worlds are which, and so on.This picture was too large to scan and had to be stitched together from four seperate scans in photoshop. Handpainted.